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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Many of us have read about success and on the valued concept of "following your passion" ; it sounds reasonable and somewhere in life - when deciding on a path for university, on some job interview, on a career assessment, on a coaching sessions or on some other occasion - you've probably have had someone asking “What are you passionate about?” . Passion is often considered as a prime-key for success, presumably providing the energy, resistance and determination required to pursue and accomplish goals.

Crossing these thoughts came the reading of Cal Newport's blog, where the author goes against the “Follow your Passion” principle, considered biased from start by assuming that:
a) a person must have preexisting passion,
and
b) if a person matches that passion to a job, then he /she will enjoy

Yes, Cal, I'm with you - for me and many of my close friends, preexisting passions have been rare and have had little (sometimes nothing) to do with what most of us have end up doing and/or loving about work. So, I have particularly found Newport arguments simple and refreshing (*) - on his book "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work you Love", he definitely makes his
case; it's a fantasy to expect
to feel a burning passion about work and you'll be better instead if focusing on developing crucial skills, cultivating and creating high quality work. Matching your job to a preexisting passion does not matter, Newport says, because passion comes after putting in hard work to become excellent at
something valuable, not before.

And a bit more: on his new book "Deep Work", Newport states that it is deep work that makes you good and provides the sense of
true fulfillment ... And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep, spending
their days in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media. A step further in his approach, explaining the mind and brain dynamics, easily explained in this quick book review.

(*) Cal Newport is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science, born in 1982 and graduated in 2004.